I think social networking can make some change. No, it probably will not do justice for this kony character's victims. No, it will not change the way things are run in Africa, USA, Europe, Canada etc. BUT it creates a voice. Where otherwise ignorant people who spend their days playing video games and working for the man will read something which might make them angry enough to spread the word.
I agree, things could have been doen for years. Politics get in the way. It's the same reason why Haiti is still suffering from the tsunami which happened 2 years ago. Everybody ruffled their feathers to show support while thousands perished elsewhere. The world is a large place, and I agree with keeping support local but in countries like Africa (where there is corrupt governments and policies and underground leagues) there are not enough socially mobilised people to make the change. Global change is local change.

Amph, the point of standing in the street is to raise awareness. You can't solve a problem if it's not out in the open to be discussed. The reason many people "jump on" now is because they didn't know before, and have a sense of urgency at realizing it has been going on for so long.

And let me ask you, who cares if they are doing it to seem cool? It still raises awareness and doesn't effect you at all. Does it make you look better for caring before and being indifferent now? Does that attitude contribute to a society where what people do counts, even if it's too late for your taste?

You can't be mad at people for not having an education, i.e not knowing who he is or what he's done. You can be mad at them for once receiving the information, doing nothing, i.e watching this newer, more popular documentary and learning, and deciding on doing nothing. In either situation, nothing has changed, but only in one are they to blame for that. Saying you heard about this years ago and are now going to be indifferent and/or hostile to people for finding out too late? It's silly. If you truly care, you'd be happy this is getting any attention, and I think everyone can agree that Kony needs to be put down. If that means it takes a trendy youtube video to get everyone's attention.. so be it.

in many ways i completely agree with all of you. i see all of your points of view to care/not care. but it is all about personal opinion, beliefs, and morals.

and i do agree that more people should pay attention to whats happening here. but, i honestly think you can only do so much to stop rape/murder/abuse. and usually law enforcement takes care of that. all we can do as individuals is raise our children well, tell the police if we do suspect something, and never run alone in parks! we have people here to take care of us and give justice where need be. of course it's not perfect though.

that's why i posted this. these people don't have anyone to take care of them. they don't get to enjoy the freedoms and luxuries that we have. and they get to live under this horrible man that can take their life at any moment.

personally, if i had to watch my own siblings have their throats cut in front of me, i would want to die too..

Over 56 millions views people. How many people really care? Only the Ugandans and a select few others do. Being in that video in the crowd would boost your popularity by a lot. I agree with Amph. Kony is a terrible person, but he will eventually be stopped. If so many children in his army hate him then why has he not been shot? He gives kids who hate him guns then parades around. He's an idiot. Frankly, this video was not meant to get that many views. It has been blown way out of proportion. The reason I watched it was because my friends at school were talking about it. I don't deny any truth in the video but I do doubt the true meaning of the filmer.

Okay here is a problem I have with this. If we do end up sending troops Joseph Kony will just put the brainwashed children in front of him. The very people you are trying to save are going to end up dead. Also Kino is a military leader, there are generals that will take his place after he dies. What happened with Bin Laden, someone took his place. It is a nonstop war. And for troops to kill someone, especially a child is probably going to hurt mentally.

I believe he is a terrible person, but really once he is dead someone will step up. Amph is in my pinion right, there are things happen in our backyards that we don't do anything about. Personally, especially with the economy, we need to focus on our own country before we step into countries that are ruled by dictators.

It sounds mean, but really the amount of money a war costs is insane. Kony's army will continue to go on. It isn't just, oh let's send in Seal Team 6, it will take a fully committed war to stop this.

Fishman, the thing is, those kids are brain washed they believe they are doing good. If they don't follow orders, they will either die or must shoot and kill their own parents. Also if you read my post, Kony is an army leader, his troops believe in him. All armies have generals, once he dies the world will celebrate and forget about the kids in Uganda and focus on something else, while a new leader takes control.

They're made to kill their own family so that they are brainwashed into thinking Kony (or whoever their leader is because there are many many child soldier armies) will be there for them. They are fed, clothed, given weapons and ciggarettes etc, They are surrounded by children in the same boat and they have each other. It's a war on psychology. These kids hate their lives, but they have no other life to go to. Death is the only way out, sadly. This will not end.
Do I take back my other commnts? No, I firmly believe global action should take place to give hope to the mothers and fathers in Africa in fear of losing their children to this hateful way of life. But simply spoken, Africa is not the Americas.

Well, I usually don't take part in discussions like this but here it goes.

I agree with kfryman and Laki, someone will take his place once he's caught and who are the children going to go back to? By now they know nothing else but to be at war with their own community. I don't say we need to ignore the issue but it is very unfair to say that Kony has gone ignored for years by the authorities.

Kony has been persecuted for years by the Uganda authorities and there's local figures commited to bringing him down but he's not your average criminal.
The US sent troops ther to catch him and, guess what? They couldn't.
It's not going to be easy to arrest him and IF they do there has to be followup on help to those children or they will form they own groups.

These problems happen everywhere in the world, even our own backyards where kids are exploted for different reasons and what are we doing to help those? We just assume because we live in the US and we see child abusers caught everyday in the news that something is being done about it.

What I think is possitive about this "trendy" propaganda? That it gets our young generations out there supporting good causes and believing is "cool" to help those in need. Nothing bad about that, imo.